“I am Koolau, the leper,” was the reply.

“Then come out. We want you. Dead or alive, there is a thousand dollars on your head. You cannot escape.”

Koolau laughed aloud in the thicket.

“Come out!” the sheriff commanded, and was answered by silence.

He conferred with the police, and Koolau saw that they were preparing to rush him.

“Koolau,” the sheriff called. “Koolau, I am coming across to get you.”

“Then look first and well about you at the sun and sea and sky, for it will be the last time you behold them.”

“That’s all right, Koolau,” the sheriff said soothingly. “I know you’re a dead shot. But you won’t shoot me. I have never done you any wrong.”

Koolau grunted in the thicket.

“I say, you know, I’ve never done you any wrong, have I?” the sheriff persisted.

“You do me wrong when you try to put me in prison,” was the reply. “And you do me wrong when you try for the thousand dollars on my head. If you will live, stay where you are.”

“I’ve got to come across and get you. I’m sorry. But it is my duty.”

“You will die before you get across.”

The sheriff was no coward. Yet was he undecided. He gazed into the gulf on either side and ran his eyes along the knife-edge he must travel. Then he made up his mind.

“Koolau,” he called.

But the thicket remained silent.

“Koolau, don’t shoot. I am coming.”

The sheriff turned, gave some orders to the police, then started on his perilous way. He advanced slowly. It was like walking a tight rope. He had nothing to lean upon but the air. The lava rock crumbled under his feet, and on either side the dislodged fragments pitched downward through the depths. The sun blazed upon him, and his face was wet with sweat. Still he advanced, until the halfway point was reached.

“Stop!” Koolau commanded from the thicket. “One more step and I shoot.”